Updates, advisories and surprises

(6:38 PM ET) LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA
PBR, -0.28%
said late Friday it earned 7.73 billion reals ($4.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 6.29 billion reals in the year-ago period. The company cited higher oil prices and increased output of crude as factors that contributed to the earnings increase. Revenue was 50.4 billion reals, up 18% from 42.6 billion reals from the same quarter in 2009.

Boeing, EADS shares diverge with weaker euro

(11:02 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Boeing Co.
BA, +0.71%
declined Friday while U.S.-listed shares of its French rival European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.
EADS
rose, reflecting in part the diverging influence of their home currencies. The strength of the euro has been declining relative to the dollar, which makes European goods and services less expensive for export. The dollar, meanwhile, has been strengthening. EADS' commercial aircraft division is expected to benefit further from the weaker euro at Boeing's expense, according to a Reuters report. Shares of Boeing, one of the steepest decliners of the Dow Jones Index
DJIA, +0.72%
for Friday, fell 2.4% to $70.01. Shares of EADS rose 5% to $20.20. The benchmark Dow Index was off 1.4%.

Alkermes leads drug stocks lower

(9:51 AM ET) BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Alkermes Inc.
ALKS, -0.50%
led drug stocks into negative territory early Friday as shares of the biotech group fell on a weaker-than-expected earnings report and financial forecast. Shares of Alkermes were down 6% at $11.87. The sector's two leading indices also moved lower amid deepening worries over the growing debt crisis in Europe. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index
$DRG
fell 1% to 284.23 and the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index
$BTK
declined 1.2% to 1093.10.

Dillard's net income jumps by six times

(8:11 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Dillard's Inc.
DDS, -1.16%
said Friday its first-quarter net income climbed to $48.8 million, or 68 cents a share, from $7.7 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a charge of 2 cents a share, Dillard's earned 70 cents a share. The retailer's revenue fell slightly to $1.48 billion, from $1.51 billion. "We are encouraged by our solid first quarter performance as we report good results in our key operational areas including inventory management and cost control," the company said.

Japan's NTT swings back to profit, cancels shares

(3:18 AM ET) TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.(JP:9432)
NTT, -0.33%
Friday posted a net profit of 73.3 billion yen ($789.6 million) in the quarter which ended in March, reversing a year-earlier loss of 5.4 billion yen, after its mobile communications unit NTT DoCoMo Inc.(JP:9437)
DCM, -0.78%
said last month its group net profit for that quarter more than doubled from the same quarter a year ago, to 75.4 billion yen. Japan's largest telecommunication carrier said its quarterly revenue fell 1.0% to 2.656 trillion yen, but its operating profit jumped 78% to 169.6 billion yen. NTT also said it will cancel about 16% of its own shares over the next two fiscal years.

Gartmore hit by $1.8 billion of outflows

(2:44 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. fund manager Gartmore Group(UK:GRT)said Friday that the four-week suspension of star fund manager Guillaume Rambourg had helped drive over 1.2 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) of net outflows in April and early May. In a trading update Gartmore said it generated 126 million pounds of inflows in the first three months of the year, but after the firm suspended Rambourg on March 30 customers pulled 834 million pounds from the group's funds in April, with another 380 million pounds withdrawn from alternative investment funds on May 4. Rambourg was reinstated in late April after the firm said he had breached an internal rule on how trades were sent to brokers, but that there was no evidence clients had suffered any losses. "The substantial majority of the outflows occurred or were notified at the time of Guillaume's suspension. In addition, following his reinstatement a significant proportion of notified alternative fund redemptions were rescinded," the group said.

Intertek revenue holds broadly flat

(2:28 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Intertek Group(UK:ITRK)said Friday that revenue in the first four months of the year was broadly flat compared to a year earlier. Organic revenue for the period, which excludes the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and acquisitions, increased by 3%. The U.K. quality and safety services company said there was a small drop in consumer goods organic revenue from a year ago, due to the high demand for toy safety testing in the prior year due to the enactment of a new U.S. consumer safety act. The decline in consumer goods revenue was more than offset by other divisions, but did contribute to a lower operating margin for the period, the company said. "Our key growth drivers remain intact and as markets recover further we expect to return to high single digit organic growth rates," said CEO Wolfhart Hauser.

Wolseley trading profit more than doubles

(2:21 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Plumbing and heating products distributor Wolseley(UK:WOS)said Friday that its fiscal third-quarter trading profit more than doubled to 101 million pounds from 48 million pounds a year earlier, due to lower costs and the absence of losses from a sold business. The group said revenue in the latest quarter declined 7% to 3.25 billion pounds. "Demand across the markets in which we operate remains mixed though most markets continue to stabilise. The U.K. and Canada generated like for like revenue growth and the revenue trend is encouraging in the U.S.," said CEO Ian Meakins.

Iberia net loss narrows to €52 million

(2:13 AM ET) MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Spanish airline Iberia(ES:IBLA)on Friday said its first-quarter net loss narrowed to 52 million euros ($65.1 million), against a loss of €92.6 million in the year-ago period. A survey of analysts at FactSet Research were forecasting a net loss of €51.3 million. Revenue for the group fell 4.4% to €1.05 billion, against €1.1 billion. Passenger load factor for the quarter rose 4.4 percentage points to 80.8%, but for the month of April, it fell 3 percentage points to 79.7%. Iberia said it had to cancel more than 600 flights due to the Iceland volcano, and it estimates losses from the disruptions at around €17 million.

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